Systematics of the trouts endemic to Moroccan lakes

Bo Delling and Ignacio Doadrio

ABSTRACT

Four native Salmo species are reported fromMoroccoand Algeria. Salmo pallaryi from Aguelman (lake) Sidi Ali is diagnosed by 12-13 (14) anal fin pterygiophores, vs. 9-11, rarely 12 in other Salmo species. Salmo pallaryi has a unique morphology of the dermethmoid bone and resembles Salmo ohridanus in circumorbital bones. It is regarded as extinct since 1938. Ordination of head measurements by means of principal component analyses groups S. pallaryi with the ‘archaic trouts´, S. ohridanus, Salmo obtusirostris and Salmo platycephalus, with which it shares short jaws. Salmo akairos, new species, the endemic ‘dwarf trout´ from LakeIfni, is described. It is diagnosed by the combination of long jaws and long fins, contrasting black and white leading edges on anal and dorsal fins, high gill raker and dorsal fin pterygiophore counts. Distinctiveness of S. macrostigma and S. pellegrini is discussed but no final conclusion is reached. Salmo pellegrini and trout from watercourses emptying to the Atlantic Ocean are characterised by comparatively high gill raker and low vertebral counts compared to S. macrostigma and trout from watercourses emptying to the